


Backlash

by Akaadji



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-14
Updated: 2011-06-26
Packaged: 2017-10-20 10:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akaadji/pseuds/Akaadji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Earth-AU version of the FLARP incident and its consequences, focused how it would have to play out much differently without dream selves, ghosts, and magical troll abilities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spark

**Author's Note:**

> All of the school-AU things I've seen either ignore the FLARP incident or have come up with entirely different contexts for Tavros' accident, and usually never mention anything about what happened to Aradia, Vriska losing an eye and arm or Terezi's blindness being something that was done to her. I just wanted to try my hand at an Earth-AU that centred around it.

It's a beautiful day today. The sun is shining brightly, but you are shielded from the heat somewhat by the dense canopy of leaves and branches above you. Every so often you hear a rustle or the barely-audible snap of a twig as the forest's wildlife goes about its business. The phone in your jacket pocket buzzes, and a quick check reveals that Aradia and Terezi got here early and set off to explore already. Learning this makes you a bit anxious, as the only person left to arrive was Vriska, and she was more Terezi's friend than yours. Truthfully, she was a bit scary at times. You flinch slightly as you feel a hand suddenly come to rest on your shoulder.

"Hey Tavros," the girl greets you in her usual teasing drawl, squeezing a bit too hard on your arm as she tugs you forward.

"We're gonna be busy today. Better keep up."

 

You're the one tasked with map-making, clearing paths through the scratchy bushes, and basically everything difficult. By the time you reach a dead end, your arms are covered with little scratches and you have more than a couple of bruises. Vriska was stronger than you, and liked enforcing that, so you really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. At least the spot you'd found was pretty; there was bit of an outcropping, and below it you could see a lot of flowers amid the tree stumps.

"Um, it looks like we'll have to turn back," you point out, more than a little hesitantly. There was a pretty good chance that, since you were supposed somehow know the whole layout of the forest, Vriska would be less than pleased. She laughs at you, stepping forward, and suddenly you're on the edge of the overhang.

"Don't be silly, Tavros, just jump. It'll be safe, I promise," she assures you, drawing your name out in a way you can't help but assume is meant to be threatening. You glance down again. It didn't look safe at all.

"I, um, I think I'll pass for today..." Even as you're saying it, you know that it won't be that easy. Taking another careful step, you slip your phone out again and send a couple of texts, asking either of your friends to come quickly. Vriska clicks her tongue disapprovingly at you, shaking her head.

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat. I'm manlier than you, and I'm a girl for god's sake. Just jump."

"I really don't-" Vriska ignores you, and you feel her hands on your shoulders again, but this time she's not squeezing them. You have enough time to be terrified, and try ineffectively to turn so that you'll land on your hands and knees rather than your back, and then there's a sickening crunch, pain shoots through your head, and everything goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

You don't remember anything about your accident; the closest you can get is a fuzzy memory of waking up, disoriented. You'd tried to get up, but for some reason it didn't work. That, apparently, had been a day later and about the fifth time you'd tried standing just to find that your legs weren't getting the message anymore. Apparently you'd damaged several of your vertebrae in the fall, but the doctors said that you were 'lucky' and that you still had partial abdominal control. You'd never be able to walk again, though. They also told you that the amnesia was a result of a severe concussion, and that it was normal. You nod dully when asked if you understand, and they leave you to come to grips with everything.

 

From what you were told, you had been exploring with Vriska and miscalculated how high up a ledge was. You wanted to take a shortcut, rather than walking all the way down and around. That was what Vriska said, anyway. It wasn't anything like what you would do, but everything got chalked up to an unfortunate accident and the small inquiry into your 'accident' stopped there.

 

Terezi and Aradia knew the truth, though. Aradia promised you that Vriska would pay for what she'd done. You don't know what exactly happened to her after that, but she stopped coming to see you as often and the few times she did, she seemed like a different person. You try to ask her once, but the look in her eyes stops you before you can even finish.

 

You're out of the hospital now, and trying the best you can to deal with your new disability. It's impossible to keep from dwelling on the past, though, especially since you rarely see any of your old friends in person anymore. You're still getting used to the wheelchair. At least, that's the reason you keep repeating to yourself every time you get lonely. Your friends are just busy, or giving you space. They aren't avoiding you because they don't know what to say to you anymore. They wouldn't do that.

 

You'll be returning to school in a couple of days, and you'll just see everyone then. Terezi hasn't even been responding to your messages lately, and you wonder what you might have done to upset her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason Tavros doesn't know about Terezi yet is because Aradia and Vriska are the only people he knows well who are close to Terezi, and everyone else basically assumed he knew.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter focusing on Tavros, then it will switch as neither Terezi nor Vriska will be in any shape to see him for a while

It's almost time for your first class, and you're running behind schedule. It turns out that the extra time you'd allotted to compensate was off. You'll have to wake up much earlier tomorrow to be able to get everything done.

Your arms ache slightly from the extra exertion as you finally make it to class. Whispered comments start up as you wheel to your seat, and you do your best to ignore them. It's always been uncomfortable to be the centre of attention, but the knowledge of why makes it all the worse this time.

"Welcome back, Tavros," the teacher smiles at you, her tone gentle. You nod, weakly returning the gesture before unhooking your backpack from its awkward position on one of your wheelchair's handles.

 

Once your work for the period has been handed out, a girl who'd been seated a few rows away walks over to you. She's wearing a lot of jewellery, and her bracelets click together as she pulls an empty chair over and sits beside you.

"Hi! I know it's been a while, and this stuff is confusing anyway, so do you want a hand?" Her voice is cheery, and unlike a lot of the looks you've gotten lately, the grin on her face is genuine. You don't know her name, since the two of you only have this one class together and haven't spoken before.

"You, um, don't need to do that," you answer automatically, despite the fact that you could probably use the help. She tilts her head.

"I really wouldn't mind, but if you're sure then that's okay too!" she shrugs, giving you another chance to accept. You quickly skim the worksheet, realizing that most of it is nigh-incomprehensible, and decide to accept.

"Oh, right! My name's Feferi, by the way."

 

You spend a large part of your day looking for any sign of Terezi, to no avail. You try asking the guy you're pretty sure is her boyfriend, but that ends with you being told to go fuck yourself through extended metaphor and after that you feel a little less like asking anyone else.

You'd expected to run into Vriska at some point, but it seems like she hasn't been coming lately. There are a lot of rumours going around, but most of them are strange and you aren't sure how much stock you can put in them. One of your only other good friends asks you if you're free after school, but you turn him down. You're so far behind that there just isn't enough time. He laughs, slurring slightly as he tells you to relax more. You watch him go, and then start heading home. It'll be a long trip, but at least you can try to go over some of the work in your head on the way.


	4. Chapter 4

Honestly, it's so frustrating. Everyone is so eager to blame you for everything. It's not your fault that wuss got himself paralyzed! You were just trying to help him man up. If he'd just had the guts to jump himself, or even just landed normally, he would have been fine. There was no other choice but to make sure Aradia would keep her mouth shut, either. Everyone's so obsessed with making you out to be the bad guy!

You sigh to yourself, returning to your attempts to make Terezi understand that. She'd been so much more fun a couple years ago, when the two of you would spend all the time you could together. The words on the screen all blur together after a while; blah, bah, you're a huge bitch.

You're getting nowhere. Might as well see what that 'present' is. It's not like you expect it to be something not-shitty. But this was Terezi, so it should at least be interesting.

"'It'll blow up in your face'? Really? So lame..." you mutter to yourself, picking up the stupid note with your right hand and crumpling it. The police agreed with you that it was just an accident, and Aradia wouldn't be doing anything to change that anytime soon. You hear a click, but it doesn't register as anything important. You turn your head, tossing the note into the trash, where it belongs.

There's no time to react as the explosion goes off, amateurish construction making it far more intense than intended. You're too shocked initially to fully understand what happened, but searing pain overtakes you soon enough. You can barely see anything through the dust and blood from various cuts on your face. You have to have a bad cut over your left eye, since you can't really see anything through it.

You try to ignore the pain and move your left arm, and have to bite back a scream. Gritting your teeth, you look at the wound. Nausea rolls over you as you take in the extent of your injury.

The fabric around your shoulder is in tatters. Underneath, there's a few inches of normal skin, then blood. So much blood, and ragged-edged wounds with flecks of white. You force yourself to look away, fighting the dizziness and the sick feeling in your stomach. You're shaking badly, you realize as you raise your hand to your face. You need to find your phone, but attempting even one step brings you to your knees, the world swimming in front of you.

You crawl the rest of the way to your bag, but your hand is clumsy and slicked with blood. The phone falls from your grip, and you can't focus properly anymore. Your sight blurs again, and then there's nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to find a way to mimic Vriska's injury gave me a lot of trouble. I wound up inverting Terezi's intention from killing her to framing her but having it go badly wrong. There will be more elaboration in the next chapters. I'm not entirely content with this chapter, so ideas on improving it would be welcome.


End file.
